International exchange

We will deliver a globally relevant curriculum and student experience, harnessing our global networks to increase international exchanges and study and cultural trips and equipping our graduates with international perspectives to enable them to succeed in local and global contexts.

More GCU students are taking part in overseas work placements, internships and volunteering, in fact, the most recent figures show a 20% increase in Erasmus+ and Non-EU exchange participation in 2013/14. The European Erasmus+ Exchange programme also supports GCU staff mobility, offering opportuntities for academic and non-teaching staff to teach or work in one of GCU’s partner institutions across Europe.

The Saltire Foundation offers overseas internships, and the Magnusson Awards help students to turn their ambitions into a reality and inspires them to engage in initiatives that deliver for the common good.

International perspectives

Home students are supported in their ambitions to explore the world, travelling with GCU’s Erasmus+ approved Exchange and Study Abroad team, visiting and studying with GCU partners around the world, working on University-sponsored placements in China’s fashion industry or taking up unique volunteering opportunities such as traveling aboard South Africa’s Phelophepa ‘Trains of Hope’ offering healthcare to the country’s poorest and most remote communities.

As part of the European Erasmus+ Exchange Programme, the university currently has a range of agreements with equivalent institutions in 22 European countries. Erasmus enables the free movement of students between similar university departments and programmes across Europe.

We offer exchange opportunities between GCU and partner institutions in 6 overseas countries. We also support shorter taster summer exchange options.

The Saltire Scholars internship programme gives undergraduate students, who may not otherwise have access to such opportunities, the chance to experience the working environment of highly successful firms or high growth entrepreneurial companies at home and abroad.

The Magnusson Awards

An environmental UN internship, a support network for women in Egypt and the rehabilitation of malnourished children in Ghana – these are just some of the life-changing projects carried out by students at Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) in the name of the University’s late Chancellor, the well-known journalist and broadcaster Magnus Magnusson KBE.

Eight students were presented with Magnus Magnusson Awards in 2015. The awards supported them to volunteer with projects across the globe, bringing their expertise and knowledge to parts of the world where it will make a real and lasting difference.

Students, their families and friends, staff and invited guests attend the annual event hosted by Principal and Vice-Chancellor Professor Pamela Gillies CBE and Dr Sally Magnusson, daughter of the late Chancellor and Honorary President of the Magnusson Fellowship at GCU.

The Magnus Magnusson Awards were created to support and cultivate the ambitions and dreams of the talented young people of Glasgow Caledonian University who wish to share their talents in some way with others. The projects enable the recipients to develop personally or professionally, giving something back to communities around the world.

Since the awards began in 2008, in honour of Magnus and his passion for learning, over 50 students have been able to realise their dreams and ambitions as a result of donations from friends and alumni totalling over £220,000.